“Because I am righteous, I will see you. When I awake, I will see you face to face and be satisfied.” (Psalm 17:15 NLT)
King David was a radical beholder of the Lord. Day and night, morning and evening his thoughts were on His Sovereign Lord and Leader of his life. Perhaps that’s the major reason the Lord said of David that he was a man after His own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). In Acts 13:22 the Bible says: “But God removed Saul and replaced him with David, a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after My own heart. He will do everything I want him to do.”
How descriptive is God’s observation of David, of His observation of you? Of me? What does that look like; what might that mean? According to Scripture, it not only means to be a diligent seeker of God through prayer, but through life. Praying often and well is vital to our having a strong walk with the Lord, but prayer in and of itself isn’t enough, we must also be diligent doers of His will.
Prayer is our lifeline. It’s through the medium of prayer we hear God’s voice, but we also must hear His holy heart. It’s His voice that informs, but it’s His heart that motivates us to respond in obedience to His directives. I can know God’s will in my mind, but until His will is activated with the rest of my body, His will won’t be accomplished, and I won’t have obeyed the directives of His heart.
We can be radical listeners without being radical beholders, radical followers, radical obey-ers! What made David a man after God’s own heart wasn’t His heart for God alone, but his radical determination to obey God and to walk before God as His humble servant.
That would be impressive regardless of who David was, but to remember that he was a king, a ruler of a nation of God’s people, is what makes His radical stance before God impressive. Few in their lifetime attain such status before men, yet, fewer still attain such radical status before God.
Do you long to be a person after God’s own heart? Someone whose sole purpose for existence is to please, honor, love, and serve God well? Someone whose soul longs for oneness and intimacy with your Father and with His only Son? If you want to be a person after God’s own heart, it begins by being a radical beholder of your Master, Lord, and Savior. But how?
First, by shifting our focus from ourselves to the Lord. If we’re honest we must recognize that a very high percentage of our thoughts focus on ourselves – our health, our wellbeing, our schedules, our social circles, our families, our jobs, our social networks and on and on. Our lives center and focus on the big “I”! We’re what matters and too often God is an afterthought if any thought at all. But that must change!
To be a person after God’s own heart we must intentionally prioritize God’s preeminence in our thoughts and actions throughout our days. Is He preeminent in your thoughts? When you’re working, relaxing, playing, interacting with others? Whatever you’re doing is He on your mind, is He the center and focus of your heart?
To be a radical beholder of our Savior and best Friend takes intentional action and discipline. It won’t happen unless and until we intend for it to happen. We must establish disciplines in our life that will help us to focus on Him during every waking moment. If He’s not vital in our thinking He will never be vital in our living.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 